Gearank

Gearank High Notes

• 2021.12: Equal Highest Rated Single Channel 500 Series Compressor
  Tied With:
  FMR Audio RNC500
  BAE 500C FET
  Rupert Neve Designs 543
  Rupert Neve Designs 535
  

• 2020.12: Equal Highest Rated Single Channel 500 Series Compressor
  Tied With:
  FMR Audio RNC500
  Rupert Neve Designs 535
  WesAudio MIMAS NG500
  

• 2019.10: Equal Highest Rated Single Channel 500 Series Compressor
  Tied With:
  FMR Audio RNC500
  

• 2018.06: Equal Highest Rated 500 Series Compressor
  Tied With:
  FMR Audio RNC500
  

Gearank Recommendation

The Crane Song Falcon appeared on our recommended list for 500 Series Compressors when we published the first edition in May 2017 and its high ratings kept it on the list until November 2022 when it was out-ranked by the RND 543 and RND 535.

Overview

Crane Song's Falcon 500 Series module is a classic vintage sounding tube compressor with modern versatility.

It features hard and soft knee choices for compression and limiting, as well as 3 attack and release time settings.

It has a color switch which changes its audio path to have negative feedback for a more colored vintage compression. The color switch also provides an option to not have negative feedback for a cleaner sound.

Its wet/dry mix knob makes parallel compression easy to use and is linkable with other Falcon modules for a full surround sound compression purpose.

Specifications

• Controls:Attack, Release, Meter, Limit/Compress, Color, Mix, Threshold, Gain
• Input/Output Impedance:
• Maximum Input Levels/Output Levels: +26 dbu
• Attack: 100uS; 7mS; 20mS
• Release: 75mS to 200mS; 300mS to 1S; 1.4S to 3.5S;
• Ratio: Depends on gain reduction
• Threshold:
• Power Requirement: 110mA